Clinique Hello Cheekbones Swatches and Review

A look at the Clinique Chubby Stick Sculpting Contour and Sculpting Highlight – and the Sculptionary Cheek Contouring Palettes

Recently, there was a flap about a magazine cover that left a certain pop star’s face looking decidedly different…more sculpted and defined. While legions of internet commenters bemoaned yet another photo retouching scandal, it was revealed that her look was the result of something that makeup mavens had known about for years – contouring.

Just as a painter uses shadow and light in their works of art, contouring has been part of countless beauty routines since the first woman decided that some of that black kohl would look nice around her eyes. And now that the rest of the world has caught up with us, the Clinique Hello Cheekbones collection is making facial sculpting easier than ever.

The Sculpting Highlight is a pearlized light pink that is much more sheer than you think it looks in the tube. The Highlight barely needed any blending, and it reflected light with just a hint of shimmer.

Both Chubby Sticks were creamy and easy to blend into my cheekbones, nose and jaw line, but I found that a light hand was needed, anything more left me patchy.

You can complete your look with one of the Sculptionary Cheek Contouring Palettes ($32). Each houses a multi-shaded blush in four color choices – Defining Nectars, Defining Roses, Defining Berries and Defining Nudes.

The Sculptionary Cheek Contouring Palettes boast three colors for a contour, color and highlighted look. I found that I also liked to blend the three together for a nice, soft wash of color.

Though I really like the geometric look of the palette, I think separate pans would have been more effective to use each color separately. Clinique suggests their Eye Shader Brush to contour the your cheeks with the blush, and I agree on using it, or something similar – a flat brush won’t lend itself to blending, and any standard blush brushes will be too large.

Like all of Clinique’s cosmetic products, the entire line is allergy tested and 100% fragrance free, so sensitive skin types can rejoice! Overall, I think these are solid products and definitely more than just trying to capitalize on the contouring hype.

I’d like to see Clinique add more colors to their Chubby Sticks, deeper shades for darker skin tones, and a warmer colored highlight. But as a new line to Clinique’s already classic cosmetic empire, Hello Cheekbones is an auspicious start. Brit-Brit would approve.

Readers – What do you think about contouring? Is it part of your daily routine, or a special occasion look?

photos: we heart this

Alyssa is kinda geeky, kinda girly and all the way in love with her cowboy husband who can say words like, “ornery” with a straight face. She live in Texas and is working on her Masters, being a good cook and the art of looking cute in the morning AND being on time for work. Visit her blog Kind of a Mess.skin tone: NC42skin type: oily to normalfavorite beauty product: nail polish and mascara

Alyssa is kinda geeky, kinda girly and all the way in love with her cowboy husband who can say words like, “ornery” with a straight face. She live in Texas and is working on her Masters, being a good cook and the art of looking cute in the morning AND being on time for work.
skin tone: NC42
skin type: oily to normal
favorite beauty product: nail polish and mascara

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Comments

Contouring is an area that I really need improvement. I have a round face and would love to have more definition. I know I could do a better job. It looks like Clinique has some new products to simplify the process.

I love contouring but I find powder the easiest method because I can throw it on top of my liquid foundation easily. What’s the texture/formula of the Chubby Sticks like? Is it creamy like a stick foundation, or gel-like like Tarte’s cheekstains, or like a giant eyeshadow crayon?

The Highlight is very close to an eyeshadow crayon, but the Contour I’d say it’s more like a cross between a stick foundation and a crayon. It’s more smooth than an eye crayon, but thinner consistency than a stick foundation.

I think I’m that little bit too pale for all-the-time contouring. I only try it if I’m going to be in a darker room because if the lighting is bright, there’s not enough blending in the world that will make me look natural. That being said, I’m kind of intrigued by the darker countouring color as a blush. I wonder if that would work? @lyssachelle –is there shimmer in the darker contouring shade? Do you think it would blend into a suitable blush shade?

There’s definitely NO shimmer in the Contour shade! I’d play with this in the store before you buy, because although I think it’d be a fun and interesting shade for blush, I don’t feel like the consistency is conducive to blending like a blush. It’s a little thicker, so it’s best to apply and then blend the edges; trying to blend it over a bigger surface area would probably look patchy.

You know, I always kind of forget about Clinque; it’s so classic and not flashy like a lot of other brands. But I stopped at the counter recently because of this review, it’s got a lot of really great products that I’ve forgotten about! I’m going to make it a regular stop when I go to the mall from now on…

Love the lucite-like case on those blushes. I love a see-through case. I love the options too, contour or swirl them all together!

I’m kind of torn on the Chubby Sticks though. The Sculpting Highlight looks pretty, but I’m not totally sold on the Sculpting Contour Chubby Stick. It looks pretty dark, even when it’s blended out. (Although, it’s kind of nice to see a “one shade for all” shade more suited for darker skin tones, it’s usually the other way around!)stef recently posted..My Photoshoot with COVERGIRL, Herbal Essences and Olay

I’m hoping that Clinque branches out a little more with their Chubby Sticks too! But you’re spot-on, it’s actually sort of nice that the default benefits those that are more medium to medium darker toned! :-)

I like the idea of the 3-in-1 blush, but I’m not really keen on any of the colourways – I’ve had a play with them at the counter and gave them a pass.

I did get the contour stick, though, and I like it a lot. I usually blend it out with just my fingers. You’re so right that you need a light hand to start off with! But it’s totally buildable if you need more depth.

It took me a little bit to get used to how much I needed, but once I figured it out, it was smooth sailing. The crayon makes it SO easy, I don’t know that I could get the same effect without using my fingers!

My contouring usually consists of a little bronzer on my chin, forehead and hollows of my cheeks, topped with a little color on the apples of my cheeks. Any contouring that gets too focused or contrived looks silly to me. And that brings me to these.
As a contouring set, I wasn’t thrilled. Even if I were to use each of these colors in a contour, the individual shades are far to small to use with precision. The idea is nice. The colors are nicer. I love the shimmer. I love the natural, peachy goodness of the shades. I love them all together–mixed together, that is.
Individually doesn’t work for me–too small, too specific. A big fluffy brush swirled around all that stone fruit goodness is, however, perfection. A swipe of all the colors leaves just the right tone, and just the right shimmer. This is a great blush for the mix of colors, but…in my humble opinion..not for contouring.

I’ve decided that I like to blend them together too, @sherrishera! It’s nice to use a smaller brush and only hit two of the colors, depending on what I want my look to be like that day, but I’m just not patient enough to do the individual shades for contouring on a regular basis. But, I’m also a bit lazy when it comes to my beauty routine sometimes! :-)

I love that Clinique is still introducing new twists on their Chubby Sticks. I’ve been a Clinique fan since I could first afford and appreciate the department store beauty counters – besides the famous skin care, I’ve always adored their eye shadows and anything in Chubby Stick form. The Sculpting Highlight is my fave of this duo, it is a super simple way to add some strategic shimmer to your face.Tyna Werner recently posted..Urban Decay Sheer Revolution swatches and review